The Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group works to help people whose rights have been violated and investigates cases involving such abuse, as well as assessing the overall human rights situation in Ukraine. The Group also seeks to develop awareness of human rights issues through public events and its various publications

Promising move from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Prosecutor General

A joint instruction signed by the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs and Deputy Prosecutor General which is to be sent to all Prosecutors and Regional MIA Departments, finally sets in motion the creation of a register of crimes committed on the basis of racial, ethnic or religious intolerance. This should enable statistical reporting on the number and nature of such crimes and on the results of police investigations into them.

This is, of course, only a first step and there remains a serious problem which needs to be tackled at the same time. This is, of course, the need to acknowledge hate crimes, and it is this too which is often lacking, with crimes being classified as hooliganism or others.

This is a complex problem which is not by any means only because police officers dont want to accept racial motivation as a factor. It also involves faults in legislation, making investigators sometimes disinclined to apply articles of the Criminal Code which are notoriously difficult to prove.

All of these issues need to be addressed and now, in order to ensure the success of an initiative which must undoubtedly be welcomed.

The Prosecutor General of Ukraine The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Instruction

6.02.2009 Kyiv No. 11 / 121

On a record of crimes committed on the basis of racial, ethnic

or religious intolerance, as well as of the results of investigations

into these crimes

To ensure proper recording of crimes committed on the basis of racial, ethnic or religious intolerance, as well as of the results of investigations into these crimes,

THE FOLLOWING MEASURES ARE REQUIRED:

Introduce a monthly report on crime committed on the basis of racial, ethnic or religious intolerance, using form I-RD (enclosed) for the period up to January 2011

That the Prosecutors of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, the regions (oblast), the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol; the Heads of the Central Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs [CD MIA] and Departments of the MIA [DMIA] of the Autonomous Republic of the Crimea, the regions (oblast), the cities of Kyiv and Sevastopol, and the DMIA for Rail Transport [DMIA RT until the implementation of the new edition of Instructions for the Single Register of Crimes:

2.1` Record crimes committed on the basis of racial, ethnic or religious intolerance using the following elements 6, 7, Item 16 of the statistical card for the results of the investigation into the crime of form 1.1, and details 6, 7 Item 42 of the statistical card for the perpetrator of the crime, form 2;

2.2 Organize work on keeping records of the above-stated category.

The Heads of the CD MIA, DMIA and DMIA RT shall organize the formulation of indicators for the report on form I-RD, and ensure timely communication via electronic post to the MIA of the objective information of the report by the 6th of each reporting month.

The MIA shall have the reports on form I-RD received from the CD MIA, DMIA and DMIA RT generalized and the generalized information from the report submitted to the Prosecutor General, the structural subdivisions of the MIA apparatus by the 8th of each reporting month.

Supervision of the implementation of this Instruction will remain under our control.